Hi there, I oppose Bill-66…

Hi there,

I oppose Bill-66 on many fronts but most importantly due to its impact on the Planning Act.

I am a Master's of Planning Student in Toronto and I believe strongly in the existing Provincial Policies and Plans, such as the Provincial Policy Statement of 2014, The Growth Plan, the Green Belt Act, and so many others. These plans help protect our environment, curb urban sprawl, and create communities where everyone can enjoy the goods and services they need and enjoy happy lives.

The Growth Plan is among some of the most forward thinking planning policies in North America and its requirements should be more strongly enforced, rather than limited through loopholes around it. People's needs are changing and people now want to live in urban centres, take public transit, walk/bike to work, and enjoy public spaces, all targets in the Growth Plan. Bill 66 would allow cities to disregard all of these targets, allowing them to continue surburban, car dependent developments, allowing them to destroy public spaces, and encouraging residents to become further divided by private space instead of encouraging more complete communities.

I grew up in Oshawa and I had to be driven everywhere. My grandparents still reside there and they are restricted to what they can do without a car. My nieces still live there are also restricted in where they can go since walking in Oshawa can be dangerous in car-only neighbourhoods. How is promoting more urban sprawl good "for the people" of Ontario? How it is good for the future?

The current Government of Ontario needs to stop living in the past and thinking that less regulations equals more business. The days of manufacturing jobs and suburban homes are gone and the future lies in urbanized cities with brain economy jobs. These brain economy jobs rely on a new generation of workers, workers that care about sustainability, who want to bike/walk to work, that want to enjoy fun public spaces, and who may not care as much about owning a care or even ever owning a house.

Please, please, do not let this bill pass. It will surely make my future way worse off. I want to ensure that I can work towards making healthy and complete communities in Ontario, to make Ontario a place that everyone looks to as the place of the future, not one admiring and mimicking the past.

Our politicians are from a different age and they NEED to start listening to the youth. I don't want to clean up their mistakes for the rest of my life.

Many people do not know of the planning act so I find this inclusion into a larger bill is a way to hide it and allow to go through unopposed. I will however let you know that I will oppose this and so will many other future and current planning professionals.

Thank you for listening.